from the let's-here-the-other-side-speak dept

Given how much time we've spent on the NSA surveillance story this week, we thought it would only be fair to allow the NSA a chance to speak for itself, and so we offered up our standard "favorite Techdirt posts of the week" post to the NSA. I think we may have accidentally signed ourselves up for PRISM in doing so, but such is life.

First off, thanks to Mike for giving us this chance to reach out directly. We're already well aware of what you think of us (you know why), and frankly, Techdirt seemed rather empty this week compared to its usual bits of content. But, here are our favorites, and your own surfing habits suggest you agree:

from the you-deserve-one dept

For this week's awesome stuff post, we're going to suggest it's about time you kicked back and had a cool drink. You deserve it. Thankfully, there are a bunch of crowdfunding projects to help you make that cool drink a reality.

First up, The Ice Baller, for those of you who think your ice cubes are too cloudy, too small, and too... cubed. It's a device designed to make larger, clear, round ice balls. Pretty self explanatory.

Apparently, a lot of people want big clear ice balls, because this one shot past its $20,000 goal pretty quickly and there's still over a month left. Personally, it seems fairly pricey to pay $70 (well, $55 if you got in early) to make ice balls, but what do I know?

Ice is so last century. How about some ChillBottles -- little stainless steel refreezable bottle-shaped devices to cool down your drinks. They even come in a small "six pack" stainless steel case that will keep the bottles cool outside of the freezer. This reminds me of another Kickstarter project -- called pucs which closed a couple weeks ago. That one was much more popular, but the ChillBottles are still available (and cheaper).

This one only has a couple hours left, so if you want them, don't waste much time. Of course, it might seem a bit odd to put a "beer bottle" shaped frozen bit of stainless steel into a non-beer drink, but this isn't about thinking too hard. It's about getting drinks cooler.

Okay, maybe you shouldn't just be thinking about what to put inside your drink to cool it down. Some designers have come up with a funky looking device called TurboCool to (they claim) quickly cool down any canned drink. I have to admit that I'm not sure I understand how or why this works, but it's basically a cannister in which you put water & ice, and then your can, and you pump the top so the can spins. Sort of the same functionality as a salad spinner. I can see how this would get the drink marginally cooler faster, but still seems like it would take a while to get a drink really cool.

These guys are pretty ambitious -- seeking over $150,000 for a device that cools a single can marginally faster than a bucket of ice, but they still have over a month.

Finally, what good is a cool drink if the drink isn't very good. Rejigger seems like an easier way of making mixed drinks without having to carefully measure each component. Basically, it's a cup with three separate compartments, sized to the usual different ratio of "parts" in various classic drinks. Just pour in the right liquids to the right ratio slots, and you've got a quick mixed drink.

This one is also super ambitious, seeking $75,000, and it's got a long way to go to reach that goal. However, they still have nearly a month to go.

There you go. Kick back, relax, have a cool drink and enjoy your weekend.